After dealing with this for a couple of years, I found the solution. I use gmail for all my foreign correspondents. I really hate doing this, but there is nothing else I can do until I change providers.

Sound like you've found the workaround for your problem---what else to do? Carry on and chin up!

A view from slightly within OpenDNS

I've been a happy user of OpenDNS for years, and recently joined their group of volunteer moderators. In my opinion, they have great approach to keeping up with the ever-changing Internet. Users of OpenDNS are welcome to suggest categories for web sites, then other users vote on whether those tags fit those sites, once enough have done so, one of the moderators will confirm the accuracy of the tag. This both ensures sites that need tagging are, and that sites aren't given inappropriate tags even if a lot of people conspire to do so.

I agree with the earlier comment about the security value of NoScript - without it, I would not be willing to visit some of the sites whose tags I moderate. But OpenDNS is an important additional protection, keeping me (or anyone else using my network) from accidentally or even purposefully visiting types of sites I've selected as inappropriate. I use custom settings for OpenDNS, which allows me to be extremely specific about what I do and don't want to allow access to on my network. In return, I'm happy to volunteer some of my time in semi-retirement from an IT career to help the system work well for all.

I don't know this for sure, but suspect OpenDNS would be happy to hear from others interested in volunteering as moderators. (At this moment, it looks like we have 193,196 more web sites to moderate.)

So how do these DNS-filtering services you speak of (I won't say "recommend", but really, that's what it amounts to) make their money? Do they track activity and sell that info to advertisers? Do they inject ads into one's web surfing in some way? Do they rely on upselling into their paid services? What's in it for them? I looked at two of their sites and didn't see anything that answered these relatively straightforward questions. Any reasonable user should ask about such things prior to making use of an apparently "free" service on today's Interporn.

It's very odd that there's *no* mention whatsoever of this topic in your article.

Yes, yes and sometimes yes. Ads as in Post #8 above, and selling info collected, as Susan Bradley suggested in the article. When this occurs, the service usually has something about it in their Terms, End User Agreement, or Privacy Policies. Some services also push paid upgrades. OpenDNS, being Open Source, relies on voluntary donations to keep their product free and ad-free. Be aware, if you use any Open Source program and do not donate, you may someday find yourself dodging things like OpenCandy, as developers cannot continue their projects without some sort of financial support.

I use Commodo Secure DNS service in Windows XP, with IE 8 or Firefox, as part of their free firewall package. No serious Internet slowdowns, and few sites I want to go to blocked using IE or Firefox. No YouTube blocking. Unlike ibe98765 in Post #8, I have not experienced increased ads when using Comodo Secure DNS as part of the free firewall package. Then again, I use ad and script blockers with Firefox. (See below.)

The Comodo Secure DNS service filters malicious sites as determined by one of the world's leading security products companies. And Comodo is also a DNS Certificicate Authority, so they may know a lot about DNS security. Then again, Comodo was involved in a fraudulent Certificates scandal not long ago, so take that into consideration as well. I have not read Comodo's Privacy or End User Agreements, so users might want to review these policies before installing Comodo Secure DNS.

I agree with MinerSevenTango (Post #5) about NoScript for Firefox. Also add to that the Abine Privacy Suite. I use both of these, and Ghostery with its blocking features, in Windows XP. For MS Updates, I use Firefox with IE Tab. (Windows Updates needs Active-X.) The Windows Updates link in MSE 2 is "Get Software Updates". (Although this link is disabled on my Windows 7 laptop, where the normal MS Updates mechanism operates directly, presumably using an IE9 window.) The MSE 2 link can open the FF-IE Tab link directly. IE still needs to be patched, but no need to save its user links for any reason whatsoever, IMHO.

Remember, many software updates and some software user displays will still use IE links. (Even though they do not always look like IE windows.)

Comcast blocking (Post #14) looks to me more like spam or phishing filtering based on IP Address or Originating ISP than DNS filtering, especially in llight of the GMail workaround posted there. There's a difference between spam filtering and DNS security filtering.

I don't bother with any of these filtering or proxy or VPN complications when using Chrome or IE9 under Windows 7 or Windows 8. I haven't been bothered by anything malicious, and full file scans with several AV/AS/AM products do not reveal anything other than a few tracking cookies. Chrome under Windows 7 all by itself once blocked a suspected Liza Moon type of attack and held it within the browser cache/sandbox. And IE9 web security is at least as good. Good enough for me. Your mileage may vary.

Last edited by bobprimak; 2012-04-17 at 06:00.
Reason: merge several comments